National Arbitration Forum

 

DECISION

 

Citigroup Inc. v. William Vaughan aka smtm investments ltd a/k/a Reliance Resource Investment a/k/a Domain Administration Limited

Claim Number: FA0801001128984

 

PARTIES

Complainant is Citigroup Inc. (“Complainant”), represented by Paul D. McGrady, of Greenberg Traurig, LLP, 77 West Wacker Drive, Suite 2500, Chicago, IL 60601.  Respondent is William Vaughan a/k/a smtm investments ltd a/k/a Reliance Resource Investment a/k/a Domain Administration Limited (“Respondent”), represented by William Vaughan, Po Box 4098, Springfield, QLD 4300, AU.

 

REGISTRAR AND DISPUTED DOMAIN NAMES 

The domain names at issue are <citimortage.com>, registered with Network Solutions, Inc.; <citiretail.com>, <careerscitifinancial.com>, and <siamcitybank.com>, registered with Innerwise, Inc. d/b/a Itsyourdomain.com; <citibannkonline.com>, registered with Hostmaster.ca; and <citifinancal.com>, registered with Enom, Inc.

 

PANEL

The undersigned certifies that he or she has acted independently and impartially and to the best of his or her knowledge has no known conflict in serving as Panelist in this proceeding.

 

Sandra J. Franklin as Panelist.

 

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Complainant submitted a Complaint to the National Arbitration Forum electronically on January 10, 2008; the National Arbitration Forum received a hard copy of the Complaint on January 11, 2008.

 

On January 11, 2008, Network Solutions, Inc. confirmed by e-mail to the National Arbitration Forum that the <citimortage.com> domain name is registered with Network Solutions, Inc. and that the Respondent is the current registrant of the name.  Network Solutions, Inc. has verified that Respondent is bound by the Network Solutions, Inc. registration agreement and has thereby agreed to resolve domain-name disputes brought by third parties in accordance with ICANN’s Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Policy”).

 

On January 11, 2008, Innerwise, Inc. d/b/a Itsyourdomain.com confirmed by e-mail to the National Arbitration Forum that the <citiretail.com>, <careerscitifinancial.com>, and <siamcitybank.com> domain names are registered with Innerwise, Inc. d/b/a Itsyourdomain.com and that Respondent is the current registrant of the names.  Innerwise, Inc. d/b/a Itsyourdomain.com has verified that Respondent is bound by the Innerwise, Inc. d/b/a Itsyourdomain.com registration agreement and has thereby agreed to resolve domain-name disputes brought by third parties in accordance with ICANN’s Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Policy”).

 

On January 11, 2008, Hostmaster.ca confirmed by e-mail to the National Arbitration Forum that the <citibannkonline.com> domain name is registered with Hostmaster.ca and that Respondent is the current registrant of the name.  Hostmaster.ca has verified that Respondent is bound by the Hostmaster.ca registration agreement and has thereby agreed to resolve domain-name disputes brought by third parties in accordance with ICANN’s Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Policy”).

 

On January 11, 2008, Enom, Inc. confirmed by e-mail to the National Arbitration Forum that the <citifinancal.com> domain name is registered with Enom, Inc. and that Respondent is the current registrant of the name.  Enom, Inc. has verified that Respondent is bound by the Enom, Inc. registration agreement and has thereby agreed to resolve domain-name disputes brought by third parties in accordance with ICANN’s Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the “Policy”).

 

On January 22, 2008, a Notification of Complaint and Commencement of Administrative Proceeding (the “Commencement Notification”), setting a deadline of February 11, 2008 by which Respondent could file a Response to the Complaint, was transmitted to Respondent via e-mail, post and fax, to all entities and persons listed on Respondent’s registration as technical, administrative and billing contacts, and to postmaster@citimortage.com, postmaster@citiretail.com, postmaster@careerscitifinancial.com, postmaster@citibannkonline.com, postmaster@citifinancal.com, and postmaster@siamcitybank.com by e-mail.

 

A timely Response was received and determined to be complete on January 24, 2008.

 

On January 29, 2008, pursuant to Complainant’s request to have the dispute decided by a single-member Panel, the National Arbitration Forum appointed Sandra J. Franklin as Panelist.

 

RELIEF SOUGHT

Complainant requests that the domain names be transferred from Respondent to Complainant.

 

PARTIES’ CONTENTIONS

            A.  Complainant makes the following assertions:

 

1.      Respondent’s <citimortage.com>, <citiretail.com>, <careerscitifinancial.com>, <siamcitybank.com>, <citibannkonline.com>, and <citifinancal.com> domain names are confusingly similar to Complainant’s CITI marks.

 

2.      Respondent does not have any rights or legitimate interests in the <citimortage.com>, <citiretail.com>, <careerscitifinancial.com>, <siamcitybank.com>, <citibannkonline.com>, and <citifinancal.com>   domain names.

 

3.      Respondent registered and used the <citimortage.com>, <citiretail.com>, <careerscitifinancial.com>, <siamcitybank.com>, <citibannkonline.com>, and <citifinancal.com> domain names in bad faith.

 

B.  In its Response, Respondent consented to the transfer of all of the domain names to Complainant and requested that the Panel forego analysis and simply order the transfer.

 

PRELIMINARY ISSUE: Consent to Transfer

 

Respondent does not contest any of Complainant’s allegations regarding the <citimortage.com>, <citiretail.com>, <careerscitifinancial.com>, <citibannkonline.com>, <citifinancal.com>, and <siamcitybank.com> domain names.  Rather, Respondent has consented to judgment in favor of Complainant and authorized the immediate transfer of the subject domain names.  The Panel therefore finds that it is unnecessary to conduct the traditional UDRP analysis and instead orders the immediate transfer of the domain names.  See Boehringer Ingelheim Int’l GmbH v. Modern Ltd. – Cayman Web Dev., FA 133625 (Nat. Arb. Forum Jan. 9, 2003) (transferring the domain name registration where the respondent stipulated to the transfer); see also Malev Hungarian Airlines, Ltd. v. Vertical Axis Inc., FA 212653 (Nat. Arb. Forum Jan. 13, 2004) (“In this case, the parties have both asked for the domain name to be transferred to the Complainant . . . Since the requests of the parties in this case are identical, the Panel has no scope to do anything other than to recognize the common request, and it has no mandate to make findings of fact or of compliance (or not) with the Policy.”); see also Disney Enters., Inc. v. Morales, FA 475191 (Nat. Arb. Forum June 24, 2005) (“[U]nder such circumstances, where Respondent has agreed to comply with Complainant’s request, the Panel felt it to be expedient and judicial to forego the traditional UDRP analysis and order the transfer of the domain names.”).

 

DECISION

For the foregoing reasons, the Panel concludes that relief shall be GRANTED.

 

Accordingly, it is Ordered that the <citimortage.com>, <citiretail.com>, <careerscitifinancial.com>, <citibannkonline.com>, <citifinancal.com>, and <siamcitybank.com> domain names be TRANSFERRED from Respondent to Complainant.

 

 

 

Sandra J. Franklin, Panelist
Dated:  February 11, 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

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